Need to get organized?
Yeah?
Totally yeah.
Even so, you do NOT have a trip to IKEA in your future (okay, you *maybe* have a trip to IKEA in your future, because I’m not going to hide the fact that I, myself, happen to love IKEA, so let’s just say that you do not ONLY have a trip to IKEA in your future). Cardboard, that wondrous material that comes right to your door printed with the Amazon logo, or gently cradling your brand-new pair of Dr. Martens Vegan 1460s, or holding up that pallet of canned corn that you unloaded at your volunteer gig at the food pantry on Monday, can also perform wonders of organization in your home.
Cardboard is sturdy, it’s easy to cut and fold, easy to paint and glue, and best of all… it’s FREE! Check out the following tutes and see the ways that cardboard is totally going to make your life better:
1. book case. Build your own box set, and become the envy of everyone else who WISHES they had a hand-painted case for their Harry Potter Icelandic translations, too.
2. cardboard box. Well, sometimes you just need a cardboard box! Make one that’s custom-sized, from any other cardboard box that you’ve got lying around.
3. closet storage unit. The shape of each cubby in this storage unit is what makes the project particularly exciting to me.
4. desk accessories organizer. This keeps all your little odds and ends organized and off your desktop.
5. desktop organizer. This design is the coolest, because the cardboard? You STACK it!!!
6. expandable files. Use this to organize the paper that you’re NOT going to recycle.
7. fabric storage. Cardboard will organize your fabric as neatly as it is in the store.
8. hanging shelves. Quadruple your closet space!
9. jewelry organizing. Cardboard egg cartons, with all those little trays, are perfect for sorting anything from buttons to Rainbow Loom bands to earrings.
10. kitchen supplies. I LOVE these cardboard boxes covered in fabric, with handles and labels added, that organize every single wonderful thing in this kitchen. They look great, and they’re dead useful: it’s a slam dunk of a project.
11. magazine files. Make these custom-sized for your favorite magazines, from Make to Wired.
12. paper files. Just don’t steal from the USPS, Friends–use USED shipping boxes for this project.
13. plastic bag holder. You can stop stuffing your plastic grocery bags under the sink now.
14. plastic lid organizer. Cover it in contact paper, so that it looks nice and is scrubbable.
15. power cord cubbies. It’s apparently possible to organize your power cords. That. Is. AWESOME!!!
16. shelf of drawers. The drawers to this upcycled cardboard shelving system are also upcycled–from milk jugs!
17. storage bins. These are distinguishable from store-bought bins only in that they’re cuter.
18. triangular wall caddy. If you’re going to go to the trouble to DIY an entire storage system, then you might as well make it look really great.